Hob Cross, Stanghow Moor

Yellow warnings issued for rain and high winds, and for once the Met Office was not overly pessimistic. Followed the Quakers Causeway, an ancient route from Guisborough Priory to Whitby Abbey. Higher on Stanghow Moor the stone trods still mark the way, worn smooth by countless feet, but approaching Hob Cross any stones must have long since sank in the bog. Hob Cross, the site of a medieval waymarker (perhaps a cross) but now marked by an 18th-century limestone boundary stone. Inscribed “RC”, the initials of Robert Chaloner, Lord of the Manor of Gisborough in 1798. A hob is the Cleveland name for a sprite or imp. In the distance are the upper intake fields of Tidkinhow Farm, 19th-century improvements claimed from the moor.